Recent Articles


What are these orange bugs all over my milkweeds!?

There are two common yellowish-orange bugs of the six-leg variety that frequent milkweed plants. Both insects are easy to spot and easily identified due to their bright color. They also both commonly appear in very dense clusters, which makes them downright hard to miss. Surprise! Neither of these insects is the majestic monarch butterfly.

Read More

Linda Tool Green Roof: 10 Years of Reducing Runoff in Red Hook

This past summer, around the same time the NYC city council passed the Climate Mobilization Act requiring green roofs on new buildings, one of the oldest green roofs in the city celebrated its tenth birthday. At ten years old the green roof on the Linda Tool manufacturing company in Red Hook is thriving. It has dramatically reduced the building’s environmental footprint, created valuable habitat, and brought natural beauty to the neighborhood. Touring the roof, as the Highview Creations team did on a cloudy summer Friday, is an exciting glimpse into where our city is headed.

Read More

Installing Green Roofs in the Fall Presents Unique Challenges

Fall is a great time to install new plants because the cool weather reduces transplant stress and facilitates root growth. However, late fall planting carries risks. If plants don’t have time to establish strong roots before the onset of freezing weather they are more susceptible to damage from exposure. On green roofs, where soil horizons are thin and wind speeds usually elevated, the risks of plants suffering damage from exposure is more acute.

Read More

Mountain Mint: Promising Plants for Green Roofs

The mountain mints, of the genus Pycnanthemum, deserve more of a place on intensive green roofs. There are roughly 20 species of Pycnanthemum and several are regularly encountered in the native plant nursery trade. Here I will focus on two: Pycnanthemum muticum (commonly called short-toothed mountain mint) and Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (commonly called slender mountain mint), that can fill different needs in the planting landscape.

Read More